Trees cocooned with spider webs could cut malaria risk
March 25th, 2011 - 2:55 pm ICT by ANILondon, Mar 25 (ANI): Remember the floods that devastated Pakistan in 2010? Well, that has now resulted in a blessing for the people of Sindh.
It has been reported that mosquitoes are being trapped in trees cocooned with spiders’ webs, reducing their numbers and the associated risk of malaria.
An unexpected result of the 2010 floods was that millions of spiders climbed up into trees to escape from the rising waters, reports New Scientist.
By the timethe waters receded, many trees were left completely cocooned with spiders’ webs.
And the phenomenon seems to be helping the local population.
People in Sindh have reported fewer mosquitos than they would have expected given the amount of stagnant water in the area. (ANI)
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Tags: floods, london, malaria risk, mosquitoes, mosquitos, new scientist, pakistan, phenomenon, population, sindh, spider webs, spiders webs, stagnant water, trees, unexpected result